Vietnam - Central Highlands

19 - 23 May '08

After a bumpy and cramped 8 hour bus ride (most of which we spent exchanging tips with the other backpackers on board), we arrived in Dalat; a town in the highlands 1500m above sea-level. Upon stopping at our drop-off point, we were all surrounded by the paparazzi-style tour-sellers (called 'Easy Riders') who even followed our taxis on motorbikes to our hotel. Dalat was a much calmer place with a cooler climate, and the people here were genuinely friendly (it had a nice community feel to it). We checked into a place with some of the other backpackers and then spent the rest of the day exploring the town. We had arrived during the festival of Vesak (Buddha's birthday), and so we experienced an impressive procession around a huge lake (situated right in the centre of town).

After ending the night drinking with some of the other guys, we woke up the following morning and had breakfast at the local Peace Cafe (renowned for backpackers and tour-guides). It was here that we started joking around with a couple of motorcycle guides who claimed to be 'Cool Riders' (officially part of 'Vietnam Easy Riders'). Their names were Ocean and River (literally translated from their Vietnamese names), and if you were to pull these guys out of a deck of playing cards they would be the JOKERS - wild, talented and funny. Our options were clear.... we could either take another 12 hour bus straight to our next destination, or we could travel on the back of their motorbikes (500km over 3 days) where they guaranteed to show us the 'real' Vietnam.... our minds were already made up!

On our first day, we travelled 160km to Lak Lake (in Dak Lak province); the route was very safe and practically designed for motorbikes. Along the road, we stopped at various historical places, silk factories (where we saw the silk worms in action - nice delicacy also!), coffee plantations and rice-wine makers, where our knowledgeable friends gave us explanations. We rode through numerous rice paddy fields where we took in some of the most amazing landscapes we had ever seen....what a beautiful country. On our last stop before reaching our hotel, we visited a highland 'minority' village called Jun (home to the M'nong tribe) and for the first time in a long while, everything felt so real. These self-contained, simple people relied on their natural surroundings to provide them with everything they needed (they had no electricity or running water). They would drink plenty of rice wine every night and would always show happiness and affection. That evening, after settling into our hotel which overlooked the lake and watching the sunset, the 4 of us dined with hundreds of inhabitants from the surrounding wilderness - some hovered above us, some crawled beneath us, and some wanted to sample our food. We managed to stay awake for only a bit of the Champions League Final (1.45am...yawn yawn...had skilful Arsenal been playing, it would have been a different story).

At breakfast the following morning, Ocean and River shared stories about the Vietnam War and their experiences with police corruption. That day, we travelled 140km to Buon Ma Thout. Once again, on route we stopped numerous times at landmarks and also met many skilled craftspeople. We walked around the National Park which was home to many large waterfalls. We were beginning to become a lot closer to Ocean and River and that night after dinner, we shared a bottle of local Vietnamese vodka with them whilst they played the guitar and sang Vietnamese songs for us - really talented guys (the Vietnamese love their karaoke!)

The final 180km of our journey took us once more through some amazing mountainous scenery and encounters with locals (they constantly approached us and tried to converse with us - it was such a shame that we didn't know any Vietnamese apart from 'toi khong hieu' meaning 'I don't understand'!) We continued to share good food and stories with Ocean and River en route to our final destination, Nha Trang. This is where our adventure together would end...so that night we treated our new friends to a seafood feast and 2 more bottles of Vietnamese vodka. As we smoked cigars, we vowed to all keep in touch. If there is one thing that you are going to do in Vietnam, this is what we would recommend.

Vietnam - Saigon (HCMC)

16-18 May '08

On arriving in Saigon, we were instantly hit by the humidity (and an entourage of persistent cab drivers trying to catch their prey). We had hooked up with a nize couple of Taiwanese ladies at the airport and the 4 of us found a taxi to take us to the backpacker area 'Pham Ngu Lao'.

What a crazy place Saigon is.... motorbike city.... with the constant sound of horns. The only way to cross the road is very very slowly, so that the motocyclists can see you and dodge you (pedestrian crossings and traffic lights are scarce).

When we got to Minihotel Alley, we had a look at a few guesthouses/hostels and went for the Dung Hotel (clean rooms and friendly receptionists for $12). After settling in, the 4 of us grabbed some lunch, and then headed out to Ben Thanh Market (we have never seen so much cr*p under one roof, and of course we picked up a couple of things). After having woken up at 4am to catch our flight here, we were beginning to fade and we all decided to go in search for a traditional vietnamese massage. Well, we definitely found a traditional place which appeared to offer that extra 'something special'... naturally we moved on.

Our initial impressions of Vietnamese people were that they were friendly and very laid back (sometimes our breakfast which consisted of tea and toast would take half an hour to get to us!). We spent the next couple of days walking around the city, chatting to locals and other travellers. Having arrived in monsoon season, we were hit with sudden heavy downpours which would last anywhere between a few minutes and an hour (motorcyclists were ready with their waterproof ponchos). Also, for all you food lovers out there, we absolutely loved the food here and each meal was only a couple of quid! 3 nights was ample time for Saigon, so we decided to travel to Dalat (the next northern town along the common backpacker route, and also a haven for honeymooners).

China - Hong Kong

10 - 15 May '08

Our train took us straight into the heart of Kowloon, and unsurprisingly the city immediately had a multicultural feel to it. We managed to find our accomodation which was located on the 14th floor of a building on the main road (Nathan Road), with the first 2 floors littered with tacky shops and tailors. Our room was so small that we could barely fit our backpacks in it (about 8x5 ft), and the shower was almost on top of the toilet (but there was a dog-faced watertight toilet-paper protector!). That evening we had a craving for indian food and using our trusted Lonely Planet Guide, we went to Branto Pure Vegetarian where we ordered a Gujarati Thali and Masala Dhosa (the food was good and we really recommend it - we're sure our mothers would also approve).

The following day, we checked into some slightly better accomodation and then lazed around the park. In particular, we hung out around Kung-Fu Corner (Kowloon Park) where we saw the locals perform various martial art routines. After wandering through some street markets (where Preya did some haggling), we hit a bar where we met an American who shared some weird and wonderful stories about his travels around Asia (Fact: In China, if your first-born is a girl, you are allowed to try for another child, and if your first-child is a boy, you have to pay if you want more children). A few drinks later we had the urge for a massage, and a funny old lady on the street persuaded Yatin to have one - Preya claims this is the worst massage she has ever experienced (and Yatin is constantly reminded of this).

In Shanghai, we had become accustomed to the street-hawks approaching us with "do you want bag, watch,dvd"... in Hong Kong, this had changed to "do you want massage, tailor". With a new day we hit some of the sights on Hong Kong Island (a short ferry ride away). This area felt a long way away from where we were staying in Kowloon (it stunk of money). After hanging out around Soho (home to the longest escalator in Asia), we took the Star Ferry back. Preya somehow fooled the bar staff at the impressive Intercontinental Hotel that we were staying there so that we could watch the Symphony of Lights Show (world's only permanent light show) from their bar gallery - a gentle reminder of our once-corporate lives.

It was time to escape the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong; armed with our reading books we headed out to Lamma Island (30 minute ferry from Kowloon) - an island where cars are prohibited. After relaxing at the beach, we did a 2 hour walk to the other side of the island enjoying some breath-taking views (Raquel, nos recordamos del dia cuando andamos por las montanyas y vimos los siete picos, te acuerdas?). We drank on the veranda for the rest of the evening.

Ready for action, the next day, we took a large Catamaran out to another island, Macau - the Las Vegas of the east (this place is already turning over more money than Vegas with each gaming table apparently 10 times more profitable). After scoping out some of the deluxe casinos (MGM Grand and Wynn), we dabbled in a spot of roulette. A wise (or foolish) friend of ours once told us that if you are going to gamble, you need 'deep pockets'.... we didn't.... and in a matter of seconds we had lost the equivalent of 3 nights dinner. After exploring parts of Macau (including its old town where scenes of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom were shot), we headed back to Kowloon where we drowned our sorrows with some B52 shooters (and more Masala Dhosa). Next stop... Vietnam.

Finally, we would like to say thanks to all those who sent messages of concern for our safety when the quake struck a couple of days ago.

China - Suzhou/Shanghai

6 - 9 May '08

After arriving in Suzhou (famous for its gardens), we walked around for a while before taking a gondola boat around the Venice style canals. That evening we soaked up some culture by going to the 'Master of the Nets' show in an intimate garden where we heard various classical Chinese instruments, saw dances and opera. There was only one way to end the night whilst in the company of Aussies - drink! Somehow, we stumbled into an Australian bar where we drank beers & sambucas and challenged the Aussies to table football - but in true English fashion....we lost!

A 2 hour bus ride from Suzhou brought us into cosmopolitan China - Shanghai. The city immediately felt different to those we had seen in our previous 2 days (with its boutiques and skyscrapers), and the rich/poor contrast was a lot more evident (slums bordering modern buildings/apartments). We walked around for several hours taking in the sights and saw an impressive acrobatics show in the evening. So far, most of our meals had consisted of Chinese food and we felt we could deservedly break this habit with Pizza Hut (pizza never tasted so good!)

On our final tour night, in Shanghai, we went for dinner with the rest of the group where we played drinking games (including 'fuzzy duck, ducky fuzz' and 'who is the captain'). We then stumbled our way to the French Concession area where we ended the night with cocktails.

After saying our farewells to the rest of the group (and exchanging email addresses), we boarded our 21 hour train to Hong Kong. Now that we had already experienced hard-sleeper trains, we thought we would treat ourselves to a deluxe soft-sleeper cabin for 2 (for an extra 30 quid each - highly recommended) where we could enjoy the views, our own privacy :) , and our own western style toilet.

China - Xian

4 - 5 May '08

After 12 hours on the overnight train and with little sleep, we arrived in Xian - home to the Terracotta Warriors. These clay soldiers (it was believed they were built by the Emperor to continue conquering in his afterlife) dating back 2000 years were being restored piece by piece after their destruction. That night we re-energised ourselves with a dumpling banquet (hmmmmmm).

Whilst in Xian we decided to work off the calories from the previous night's dumplings by going on a 13.7km bike ride along the city wall (built as a defence from the Japanese invasion). This was great fun and we would recommend it to anyone coming to Xian.

Our next town was going to be Suzhou and for this we would once again need to board an overnight train - this time for 15 hours.

After 5 days in China, the one thing that we found continually annoying was the way in which Chinese people would have the urge to spit everywhere (in streets, in internet cafes, in toilets...wherever - mostly, it was the constant sound of their phlegm collecting that would make us cringe - be warned!)

China - Beijing

1 - 3 May '08

After catching the red-eye straight to Beijing, we arrived at an ultra modern airport where we were picked up by a lookalike of the 'good old guy' out of Big Trouble in Little China. Our first impressions of China were that it was chaotic! The one golden rule when you are driving or crossing the road is.... there are no rules. After meeting our tour-guide Bruce, we went out that same evening for dinner with the rest of the group (mainly Aussies - all very fun, alcoholic and friendly) where we sampled the local speciality - peking duck (we definitely prefer the even less greasy version in London).

The next morning we took a 2 hour bus ride to Mutianyu where we conquered the Great Wall of China. After ascending about 200ft we walked along the section for about 5km (through the Ming Dynasty Guard Towers) before we tobogganed our way back down.

We were met by heavy showers and thunderstorms the following day, but armed with our waterproofs, we ventured to the Forbidden City (so called because all common people were forbidden to enter - it was the grounds where the emperor, his family and his many concubines lived - lucky guy!). That evening we boarded an overnight hard sleeper train to Xian (not recommended for claustrophobics - 6 bunk beds to a cabin - 3 on top of each other). Using the squat toilet on the train was definitely an experience. You can imagine how filthy it became with 50 people sharing the same one! We passed the night playing cards (Bruce taught us a very cool card game called 'Digging the Hole')...playing drinking games and chatting.